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Jake Olzen

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A Democratic Egypt: Worker Justice and Civilian Rule

After months of good-faith reforms and patience, the drama is back in Egypt's Tahrir Square as protesters are preparing for a potential showdown with the state's military rule. The movement, among other things, is demanding an end to military rule -- a more radical call that reflects both the frustration with the status quo and the hope for a better way.

Two weeks ago, at the "Day of Persistence," Egypt saw its largest resurgence of public protest since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. The nation-wide protests show Egyptians camping out in Cairo's Tahrir Square, staging sit-ins and blocking traffic in Alexandria, and threatening to shut down Suez's tunnel access to Sinai. So why are the people confronting -- albeit nonviolently -- an interim government that has promised elections and a new constitution? A glance at the collective demands drafted in Tahrir Square make clear that the movement's demands -- both political and economic -- have not progressed much under the military rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Is Glenn Beck's Departure the Beginning of the End for Fox News?

If you haven't noticed, Glenn Beck -- the vitriolic voice of "reason" and "values" for Fox News -- is gone. Thursday, June 30 marked the end of Beck's controversial career with FOX, but his pandering continues on The Glenn Beck Program, which is broadcast nationwide. While talk-radio remains a favorite medium for right-wing ideology -- and quite successfully at that, considering the top three talk syndicates are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, respectively -- what is more significant is what the ousting of Beck may mean for Fox News.

Undocumented and Unafraid: The Immigrant Rights Movement

The immigrant rights movement is getting extreme. In the past two years, in addition to some of the largest mass gatherings in the country, undocumented students and their allies have shifted their protest from street marches to civil disobedience.

Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers Yearn for Hope

In a country torn by 30 years of war, where the promise of peace continues to be broken, despair and resignation seem to be the norm for Afghan society. War -- and its corollaries of social decay, poverty, corruption, and trauma -- does not discriminate.